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The Tallahassee point is lanceolate, steepled, serrated, but not
beveled. At one site it accompanied Arredondo points. The Wacissa
point is serrated and double-beveled, with a wide but short stem.
At one site it accompanied a Bolen point. The Taylor point has weakly
developed shoulders and a stem that expands from the base of the
blade. Tallahassee, Wacissa, and Taylor points are all believed to
postdate Suwannee points but to antedate the Archaic stemmed
point. Small, ovate or trianguloid tools have been found to accompany
Tallahassee, Wacissa, Taylor, Bolen, and Arredondo points.

The Silver Springs site, in Marion County, Florida, yielded Suwanee points
at depths of 89 to 93 inches, and stemmed points in a preceramic context as
deep as 51 inches; but between these occupation levels were others which
unfortunately produced no definitive artifacts (Neill, 1958). Sites at Bolen Bluff,
in Alachua County, Florida, revealed two types of projectile point, the Arredondo
and the Bolen, stratigraphically below the stemmed point of the preceramic
Archaic. The Arredondo point was deeper than the Bolen. An occupation level
below the Arredondo point produced nothing definitive, but was believed to be
the source of Suwannee points that had previously been uncovered by road work
(Bullen, 1958). Bullen applied the term "Early Preceramic" to the period
after the Suwannee point but before the stemmed point of what has usually been
called the preceramic Archaic or Mt. Taylor Period. Neill (in press) described
the Arredondo lithic complex of two sites, respectively in Marion and Jackson
counties, Florida.
The present paper describes three more projectile point types also believed
to fit into this Early Preceramic period.

The Tallahassee Point

Little has been published regarding early projectile points in the Florida
Panhandle. Several types occur there. One of these is shown in Fig. 1, nos. 1-4.
Of this lot, nos. 1 and 2 are from Natural Bridge, Leon County. No. 3 is
from Wakulla County, just west of the Jefferson County line, beside U. S.
Highway 98. No. 4 is from a hillock overlooking Blue Springs, near Marianna,
Jackson County. A fifth specimen, not shown, is from Tallahassee, Leon County.
These five are in my possession. A sixth specimen, in the collection of V. J.
Allen, is from about 11 miles southwest of Monticello, Jefferson County; it
closely resembles no. 1, above.
These specimens have in common the following features: Shape lanceolate,
symmetric, blade not beveled. Base concave, with basal "ears" which do not
flare outward; base thinned but not fluted. Sides parallel proximally (i.e.,
toward the base), but then abruptly angling toward each other to produce
a steepledd" outline. Basal (lateral) grinding present; edges finely serrated
above the basally ground area, about 4 to 6 teeth per centimeter where countable.
Workmanship fair to good; material a smooth flint or a good grade of chert
in the specimens at hand. Patination moderately heavy in sandhill or clay
situations; extremely heavy (edges chalky) in flatwoods.
Florida Anthropologist, Vol XVI, No 4, Dec. 1963 99

100 Fig. 1

No. 1 is 79 mm. long, and nos. 2-4 appear to have been about this same
length. The specimen from southwest of Monticello, an unbroken point, is about
59 mm. long. The Tallahassee specimen is only 40 mm., and is the smallest
noted. The width across the base is very consistent; the smallest specimen
is 18 mm. in this measurement, and the other five range from 20 to 22 mm.
I suggest the name "Tallahassee point" for this type.
Only one of the Tallahassee points was found in an archeological context.
This is the one from Blue Springs. It was found in situ along with 18 Arredondo
points (some broken and reworked into other implements), and was the only
point not Arredondo at this small site. Most of the Arredondo material has been
figured elsewhere (Neill, in press).
The Blue Springs Site will be discussed more fully in another paper; but it
might be noted here that its lone Tallahassee point, and five of its Arredondo
points, are all made of the same unusual material, a whitish to cream flint
with purplish variegations. The Tallahassee point cannotbe separated from some
others of the lot on the basis of patination; and the workmanship of the base,
on several of the Arredondo points, is precisely like that on the Tallahassee
point. Almost surely the same people were making both Tallahassee and
Arredondo points at the Blue Springs Site.
The Tallahassee point from Blue Springs is suggestive of a Dalton point.
For comparison I figure a specimen of the latter type from Dougherty County,
Georgia (Fig. 1, no. 5). The figured specimen is typical of the Georgia Coastal
plain variant of Dalton in that the shape is moderately elongate; not, however,
as elongate as most Tallahassee points. Unlike Tallahassee points, these Georgia
Dalton variants are oppositely beveled; they usually exhibit one, two, or three
flutes on each face, and the basal "ears" flare outward.
The unnumbered specimens in Fig. 1 are from various localities in Arkansas,
Missorui, and Illinois. Those of the bottom row belong in the Dalton-Meserve-
Greenbrier series; and some, perhaps all, of the others belong in or near this
same series. I figure these specimens to show how some variants of the Dalton
complex approach the Tallahassee point.

The Wacissa Point

In Marion county, Florida, removal of sand for fill has revealed occasional
specimens of a double-beveled projectile point unlike any noted from the middens
of the St. Johns River drainage (Fig. 2, no. 1). The type was not found in any
of several stratified sites dug by meinthat county. In Jefferson County, Florida,
just west of the Wacissa River, road construction work along U. S. Highway
98 unearthed a small site from which I recovered but four definitive artifacts.
Two of these were specimens of this unusual point (Fig. 2, nos. 2-3), one was a
Bolen point (Fig. 2, A), and one was a trianguloid tool (Fig. 2, B) like those
previously found with Arredondo points at two sites (Neill, in press).
All four specimens seem to be completely desilicified, so chalky as to leave
white marks when rubbed on paper (Fig. 2, arrow). Although it cannot be proven
that these four specimens were contemporaneous, it appears likely that they
were.
The new point type, herein called the 'Wacissa point," is characterized by
a stem that is very wide and short; and a blade that is broad, flat, triangular,
serrated, and double-beveled. By double-beveled is meant that both edges are
beveled, and on both faces. There is no basal or lateral grinding, and in fact
the end of the stem is worked to a sharp edge. In four specimens (one of them
not figured), the length varies from 40 to 54 mm. Workmanship is fair to good;
101

Figure 2
patination is moderately heavy in sandhill situations, extremely heavy in
flatwoods.
The Wacissa point may prove to be a cutting tool, part of a Bolen lithic
complex.

The Taylor Point

Road work along U. S. Highway 98, from Taylor through Jefferson into
Wakulla County, uncovered numerous small nonceramic sites, mostly in
flatwoods. One of these sites, in the narrow stretch of flatwoods between the
Econfina and Wacissa rivers, in Taylor County, Florida, yielded eleven definitive
artifacts. Eight of these represent a distinctive variety of point, herein called
the "Taylor point" (Fig. 3, nos. 1-8).
This type is characterized by weak shoulders, and a stem that expands widely
from the base of the blade. The tip of the blade is very sharp. The stem is
thinned. Four specimens out of eleven exhibit basal (lateral) grinding. Length
varies from about 25 to 60 mm. Workmanship is poor to fair; most specimens
are thick. (No. 1 in Fig. 3 is 23 mm. thick.)
Of the Taylor County lot, no 6 is of a brownish flint, the others probably
of a yellowish-brown chalcedony obscured by patina. A more heavily patinated
Taylor point (Fig. 3, no. 9) is from deep sand near Silver Springs, Marion

102

Figure 3

103

~
*-r

County, Florida. Another (Fig. 3, no. 10), even more heavily patinated, is from
a disturbed field site at Blue Springs, where material from several periods
has been mixed by plowing. (This is not the site with Arredondo points and one
Tallahassee point, nor a site with Bolen points mentioned by Bullen, op. cit.)
Yet another specimen (Fig. 3, no. 11)is fully desilicified and will leave chalk-like
marks onpaper(Fig. 3, arrow). This latter example is from beside U. S. Highway
98 in Wakulla County, just west of the Jefferson County line (about a quarter-mile
from the site that produced a Tallahassee point).
The Taylor County site yielded a single-shouldered point or knife (Fig. 3,C),
and two trianguloid knives (Fig. 3, A-B). All of these are of the same material
as seven of the Taylor points found at this locality.
The Taylor point from near Silver Springs is somewhat like a Suwanee
point. It also resembles a Jeff point from Alabama, figured by Cambron (1956,
p. 5, no. 16) who thought the Jeff type "may represent a transitional period
from Paleo to Archaic."
Comments
The five projectile point types assigned to the Early Preceramic are all
accompanied by a small, ovate or trianguloid knife or composite tool. Two of
these implements were found with an Arredondo point at the Trilisa Pond
Site in Marion County (Neill, in press); three with a Tallahassee point and
numerous Arredondo points at the Blue Springs Site in Jackson County (idem);
one with a Bolen point and two Wacissa points at the site near the Wacissa
River in Jefferson County; and two (better made and more sharply pointed than
any of the others) with Taylor points at the site in Taylor County. An artifact
from the Bolen point level of the Whitehurst Site at Bolen Bluff (Bullen, op.
cit.: pl. 6, J) may also be one of these tools.
This trianguloid implement has not been found in a Suwannee context. At the
Silver Springs Site, two specimens were found in what was called a preceramic
Archaic level, but were at the very bottom thereof; they were at depths of 48
and 52 inches respectively, while the deepest Archaic stemmed point was at 51
inches in a different test (Neill, 1958). This trianguloid implement may therefore
characterize an Early Preceramic period in Florida.
Bullen's work afforded some evidence of a priority of Arredondo points
over Bolen points. The situation becomes more complicated as more sites
are examined; but so far, nothing militates against the possibility that Arredondo
and Tallahassee points are earlier than Bolen and Wacissa points. The position
of the Taylor point is unknown. If some of the Taylor points of Fig. 3
arranged in this typological series: nos. 9-1-10-3, the series would to some
extent bridge the gap from the Suwanee point to the Bolen.
Literature Cited
Bullen, Ripley P. Literature Cited
1958 The Bolen Bluff Site on Payne's Prairie, Florida. Contr. Fla. State
Mus., Soc. Sci., No. 4. Gainesville.

In press Trilisa Pond, an Early Site in Marion County, Florida. Fla. Anthr.
104

A SURVEY OF PRECERAMIC OCCUPATIONS
IN PORTIONS OF
SOUTH LOUISIANA AND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI

Sherwood M. Gagliano

ABSTRACT
A survey was conducted to locate possible preceramic sites in
south Louisiana and south Mississippi. The work produced evidence
of a long sequence of occupations and extended the known chronology
for the area into the Lithic Stage. Exploratory excavation at a possible
early man site on Avery Island in central coastal Louisiana revealed
a bipolar flaking industry which can be tentatively correlated with a
fossil bed rich in extinct vertebrate remains. Other Lithic materials
consist of Clovis-like fluted points found at several locales within
the survey area. An Early Archaic horizon is also well represented
from surface finds. Four distinct complexes defined in the later
Archaic and Early Formative have been designated as the Amite
River, Pearl River, Bayou Jasmine and Garcia Phases. Artifact
assemblages and inferred traits characteristic of these phases
show marked specialization, presumably resulting from adaptation
to various ecological situations. The relationships between settlement
pattern and geologic and geomorphic setting have been discussed for
several key areas.

INTRODUCTION

This paper is a summary of the results of a survey of preceramic occupations
in south Louisiana initiated in the summer of 1960. The study is, in effect, an
extension in time and areas of McIntire's survey of coastal Louisiana (1958) and
an outgrowth of a project started in conjunction with Roger T. Saucier (1962) in
the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. It is a continuing survey and salvage program
with excavation limited to test trenches and pits at selected sites. Several key
locales have been earmarked for additional excavation as funds and time become
available.
A large number of artifacts, including over 5000 projectile points, have been
classified and form an important basis for subdividing the preceramic horizons.
Detailed descriptions and statistical treatments of these artifacts will be
presented in a later paper. Most projectile point types referred to in the
illustrations and tables have been previously described by Suhm and Krieger
(1954), Ford and Webb (1956), Bell (1958 and 1960), and/or Suhm and Jelks (1962).
A cultural sequence, based primarily on ceramics, has been firmly established
in the southern part of the Lower Mississippi Valley as a result of work
conducted during the past 20 or 30 years. Although many have contributed, the
chronology has largely been the product of Ford, who for more than 25 years,
has continuously defined, revised, and refined the sequence. This chronology
covers a time span of approximately 3000 years and extends from historic
times to the Poverty Point period. The Poverty Point culture is essentially
non-ceramic and as stated by Haag (1961: 322) may be regarded ".. as
transitional from an Upper Archaic tradition to a phase of the Formative."
This sequence, which Ford has termed the Red River Mouth chronology, has
been extended with some modification into the coastal area of south Louisiana
by McIntire (1958: 4-6) and Saucier (1962: 35-7) and is the foundation on which
this study is built.
Florida Anthropologist, Vol XVI, No 4, Dec. 1963 105

Although a number of authors have speculated on the existence of Archaic
cultures in the Lower Mississippi Valley (Willey & Phillips, 1958: 116; Haag,
1961: 317-322, and others) until recently no sites had been reported. This paper
will consider evidences of preceramic occupations, some of which meet the
requirements of the Archaic definition, within the Mississippi deltaic plain
and the areas marginal to it. In the following discussion the Tchefuncte period
is considered as making the beginning of ceramics as a major cultural element.
DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA

Since most of the field work was conducted on short trips, from either Baton
Rouge or New Orleans, all sites to be considered lie within 100 miles of one
of these two cities (Figure 1). The topography of this area is dominated by a
series of four Pleistocene terraces and a prism of onlapping Recent alluvium.
The area can be subdivided into an upland segment of rolling pine-clad hills, a
flat Pleistocene terrace segment, the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River,
and an area of Recent deltaic and marginal deltaic deposits along the coast.
The uplands segment attains elevations of 100 to 300 feet and is relatively
well-dissected, reflecting the antiquity of the three older Pleistocene terraces.
Relief in the Tunica Hills, immediately east of the Mississippi River, is
exceptionally pronounced. This is a result of local structural uplift coupled
with erosion along streams draining into the Mississippi alluvial valley.
The Prairie terrace, youngest of four recognized Pleistocene terraces in
Louisiana, consists of a broad strip of land essentially paralleling the coast.
Its surface slopes gently to the south and is marked by a complex of subdued
ancient stream patterns, dunes, and beach Tidges, indicating a complicated
depositional and post-depositional history. Louisiana's Prairie terrace is
considered tobe an elevated Mississippi River floodplain of an earlier interglacial
stage (Russell, 1938 and 1940, Fisk, 1939). The modern vegetation cover on the
Prairie terrace east of the Mississippi is a mixed woodland consisting of pine
flats and magnolia, oak, beech, and other hardwoods within stream valleys.
When first visited by Europeans much of this surface was a natural grassy
prairie with trees restricted to streams andponds. The surface west of the river
is still essentially a prairie with few trees. Flat fluviatile equivalents of the
Prairie terrace deposited during the last interglacial extend up all major
stream valleys and contrast sharply with the more rolling, indurated and dissected
pre-Prairie upland surfaces.
A third major subdivision of south Louisiana is the alluvial valley of the
Mississippi River. Averaging some 60 miles in width, the valley was deeply
entrenched during the last glacial stage (Figure 2) and with rising sea level
has been filled with flood plain deposits. The surface of the alluvial valley is a
complex of backswamp areas broken by a maze of natural levee ridges denoting
former courses of the river. South of the valley these broad, natural levee
belts break-up into many finger-like ridges reaching into the coastal swamps
and marshes and marking former distributaries of active and abandoned deltas
of the Mississippi. A number of lobate deltaic land masses built by the shifting
river can be recognized in coastal Louisiana (Fisk, 1944, Fisk and McFarlan,
1955, Kolb and Van Lopik, 1959, and others). The approximate extent of three
of the oldest of these former deltas, the Maringouin (?), the Cocodrie, and the
Teche, are shown in Figure 1. Although the existence of these deltaic masses
has been demonstrated there are still many questions regarding trunk stream
correlations and maximum extent.
Natural levees and beach ridges afford the only high ground within both the
alluvial valley and the deltaic plain and thus dictate human settlement patterns.

106

PRECERAMIC SITES
: Lithic Stage Finds

o Amite River Phase Sites

* Pearl River Phase Sites

* Poverty Point Sites
A Undifferentiated
Archaic Sites

Prairie
Terrace

0 20 4O
Mies

EARLY MISSISSIPPI
RIVER DELTAS
A Maringouin(?)
B Cocodrie
C Teche

H."'

........ .
.....,.........

Fig. 2.
Lower Mississippi River Valley and adjacent areas during last
glacial maximum.

108

In most cases sites are situated on natural levees, relict beach ridges, or on the
edge of the older Pleistocene terrace.
The marginal plain west of the deltaic area is characterized by coastal
marshes and relict beach ridges (cheniers). The latter mark progressive
positions of the Gulf shoreline during minor retreats in a general progradation
which has taken place in the last 3500 to 4000 years since sea level reached its
present stand. The beach ridges have provided habitationplaces in the otherwise
marshy coastal environment. McIntire (1958: 90-1, 1959: 354-5) has shown that
initial human occupation on a ridge approximates the time when it was an active
Gulf beach. Thus, the oldest sites in the marginal deltaic plain are found on
relict beaches farthest removed from the present shoreline.
Between the eastern bank of the Mississippi and the southern edge of the
Prairie terrace lies another marginal deltaic lowland with a very complex
history. As sea level approached and reached its present stand, this basin was
dominated by a westward extension of Mississippi Sound, complete with offshore
islands. These can be traced in the subsurface to the vicinity of New Orleans.
Subsequently the area played host to a succession of less than three
Mississippi River deltas, the oldest of which was the Cocodrie (radiocarbon
dated by Saucier at about 2000 B.C., 1962: 60-1). The advancement of this early
delta transformed the area from shallow marine to a deltaic plain environment.
Major streams of the study area are confined to valleys excavated as a result
of lower sea level during the Wisconsin glaciation (Figure 2). The valleys
have been essentially filled with alluvium during the Post-Pleistocene rise and
still stand of the sea, but remain as lowlands.
Geological evidence suggests that the Post-Wisconsin sea level rise was
interrupted by a number of pauses or reversals resulting from halts in retreat
and minor readvances of the melting continental glaciers (Shepard, 1960: 342-43,
Curray: 253-63, and others). These pauses and/or changes in rate of rise coupled
with possible climatic adjustments have left distinctive scars on the landscape.
Among the more prominent of these features is a fluviatile terrace complex
developed along streams draining the upland and Prairie terrace areas, notably
along the Amite and Pearl Rivers. This terrace complex is considered equivalent
to the Deweyville described by Bernard (1950: 59-71) in southeastern Texas.
The Deweyville surface, wherever mapped, is characterized by meander
scars with radii much larger than those of the present streams. The terrace
is best developed in the lower segments of streams, where its surface is
generally intermediate between those of the present floodplain and the Prairie
terrace and separated from them by well-defined scarps. All three of these
surfaces slope seaward, but at slightly different angles. The Prairie terrace
has the greatest amount of slope andthe Recent the least. The slope relationships
are such that the Deweyville is drowned by Recent alluvium near the coast while
in the upper stream segments it merges with the Prairie adjacent Pleistocene
or active floodplain material in the lower stream segments and are quarried
extensively along several streams for sand and gravel. Both morphology and
composition suggest a somewhat different climate during the origin of these
deposits.
Although poorly defined, present information suggests three distinct stages
in the morphological history and general ecological succession of the survey
area. The first interval is estimated to have occurred 12,000 to 6,000 years ago
during deposition of the Deweyville sequence. The residual Pleistocene fauna
was varied and abundant at the start of this period and included large forms
such as mastodon, mammoth, horse, and sloth, but was gradually reduced.
The large size of Deweyville stream scars suggests that there may have been
a more pronounced wet season or a somewhat greater annual precipitation than

109

at present.
The second interval, (estimated to have occurred between 6,000 and 3,500
years ago) may have been somewhat drier. Stream volume diminished and many
small upland streams no longer functioned. Dunes developed from local point
bar concentrations of sand along abandoned streams on the Prairie terrace
surface. The supply of coarse sediment carried to the coast decreased sharply.
Coarse material introduced earlier was reworked into complex barriers and
beaches. Extinction of the Pleistocene mega-fauna was completed. Lobate
Mississippi River deltas began to develop. The period as a whole was one of
transition.
Sea level reached its present stand approximately 3,500 to 4,000 years ago
and has remained at approximately the same level. This stillstand of the sea
marks a third interval in the geomorphic development of the area. Inundation
and sediment burial resulting from the sealevel rise during the earlier intervals
has obscured previously exposed surfaces in the deltaic and marginal deltaic
plains. A general progradation of the shoreline has taken place during this
interval. Features associated with this progradation include the marshlands of
the marginal deltaic plain and most of the lobate deltas of the Mississippi
River, however several lobate deltas were developed during the preceding
interval. Since sea level reached its present stand conditions have been essentially
the same as those existing today.
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA AND THE NATCHEZ PELVIS FIND
Poorly preserved remains of extinct Pleistocene vertebrate fauna such as
horse, sloth, mastodon, and mammoth, are found occasionally during construction
and excavation throughout the Prairie terrace area. Most of this faunal material
comes from low fluviatile terraces believed to be related to the Deweyville.
Wood from two of these locales yielded dates ranging from approximately
11,000 to 4,000 B.C. These dates are in agreement with extinction dates of the
residual Pleistocene mega-fauna in North America of 4000 to 6000 B.C. (Hester,
1960).
By far, the best fossil locales are along streams in the Tunica Hills area
where active uplift is causing rapid dissection of fluvitile terrace deposits and
providing excellent exposures (Fisk, 1938, Brown, 1938). It was in this area that
the Natchez Pelvis was discovered in the periodbetween 1837 and 1844 (Dickeson,
1846: 106-7). A fragment of human pelvis was found along with extinct faunal
remains at the base of a 30 foot sequence of terrace and/or loess deposits
above a blue clay on a tributary of St. Catherine's Creek near Natchez,
Mississippi (Figure 3). Fluorine analysis of the bones later confirmed that
man and the extinct animals were contemporaneous (Stewart, 1951: 392, Wilson,
1895: 725). In 1956 Quimby (1956: 77-8) reexamined the documents and the area
and concluded that . erosion had washed away the locus of the Natchez
pelvis find, probably by 1846 and certainly by 1954."
Much of the fossil material from other Tunica Hills locales occurs in geological
context similar to that described in the vicinity of the Natchez find. Two wood
samples have been dated from one such locale on Tunica Bayou (Figure 3),
yielding dates of 10,779 + 300 and 9,540 B.C.* Comparison of fauna and
stratigraphy strongly suggests that the Natchez Pelvis find is of approximately
this vintage.
THE AVERY ISLAND BASKETRY FIND
Avery Island is a piercement salt dome with marked topographic expression
Samples analyzed by U.S. Geological Survey Geochemistry and Petrology
Branch (Sample No. W-944) and Shell Development Co., Exploration Production
Research Division, Houston, Texas.
110

Natchez Pelvis Find
Avery Island
Jones Creek Site
Bluff Creek Site
Doyle Site
Baywood Site
Cedar Point Site
The Graveyard Site
Cedarland Plantation
Bayou Jasmine Site
Linsley Site
Garcia Site
Rabbit Island Site
Knox Site

Tunic

/ /-

,)

:a Bayou Locale I '
Prairie Terrace I '-,4

1113
;- ., ,i .
. '- --"" -"- -- -' ----k i -

-- _- ----- --_ -_ __ -'._ ,- ._ . -

1 __ =_Y _,..- -" --
@ -.--Y ..

G LF

0 20 40
Miles

OF MEXICO

in the coastal marshes of south central Louisiana. It is one of a trend of five
such domes in which the salt is at shallow depths or has reached the surface.
Uplifted Pleistocene and older sediments capping the domes have created
topographic highs, which in the flat prairie and marsh country of south Louisiana
stand as anomalous hilly area. The island is approximately two miles in
diameter, with elevations reaching 100 to 150 feet.
Because of this unique physiography and the existence of saline springs,
Avery Island has been particularly attractive to animals and man for thousands
of years. Ponds, developedby the solution of the underlying salt, created excellent
environments for the preservation of fossils and human artifacts. One such pond,
known as Salt Mine Valley, has yielded an abundance of archaeological material
and Quaternary vertebrate fossils. The locale first attracted scientific attention
in the 1860's when, during the course of strip-mining operations, basketry
fragments were found which appeared to be associated with extinct faunal remains
(Veatch, 1899: 237-53). Although there was considerable disagreement as to the
validity of the association, after examination of the mining pit several scientists
of the day concluded that the remains of man and extinct animals were
contemporaneous.
The irregular surface of rock salt is overlain by 10 to 30 feet of sediment in
Salt Mine Valley. The deposits filling the valley indicate a long and complex
history of intermittent accumulation of organic material and stream deposits
derived from adjacent hilly areas of the island. Fossils of extinct vertebrates
occur primarily in a sand and gravelbed immediately above the salt and include:
Megalonyx jeffersonii, Mylodon harlani, Equus complicatus, Odocoileus
virgininius, Bison (species undetermined), Mammut americanus, and Elephas
(species undetermined) (Hay, 1924: 218). In the deposits above the fossil beds
tremendous quantities of pottery fragments have also been found.
Recent excavations at the site disclosed an early occupation characterized by
a bipolar chipping industry and tentatively correlated with the extinct faunal
remains. A rich accumulation of Plaquemine Period potsherds and a bed
containing historic American artifacts were found in the upper levels of the pond
fill. A detailed report on the archaeology of Avery Island is in preparation.
LITHIC EARLY ARCHAIC STAGES
A few fluted point finds have been made in the Prairie terrace and uplands,
but to date these have been rare and scattered. The points thus far seen are
Clovis-like, of excellent workmanship, and usually manufactured from non-local
chert (Figure 4).
Another point considered to be an early marker in the area has a wide,
square stem, is usually straight-sided, and has diagnostic coarse serrations.
These points have all the features of the Kirk Point, described by Jeoffrey coe
from North Carolina (Bell, 1960: 62-3). They are widespread in occurrence,
invariably of local gravel, and usually found in sites whose locations suggest
considerable antiquity.
Points belonging to the San Patrice family form another series that appears
to be typologically old (Webb, 1946, Bell, 1958: 84-5, and Suhm and Jelks, 1962:
243-4). These are small, stubby, triangular points, characteristically
side-notched, basally thinned or fluted, and basally ground. They are likewise
widespread and manufactured from local gravel.
A good example of a transitional or Early Archaic site is the Jones Creek
Site, located along a small stream on the Prairie surface near Baton Rouge
(Figure 3). Kirk points, heavy spade-shaped points, and uniface flake scrapers
are found in the distinctive Jones Creek assemblage (Figure 5). Artifacts once
occurred as surface lag in cultivated fields, but the place has been engulfed by
a subdivision.
112

Jones Creek, along which the site lies, was recently straightened and dredged
to improve local drainage. Bones of mastodon and horse along with projectile
points were found mixed in drainage canal spoil in the immediate vicinity of
the site, but unfortunately no in situ material has been found. However, lag
material associated with mastodon bones exposed in the Jones Creek drainage
canal several miles southeast of the site yielded a radiocarbon date of 4,380
- + 200 B.C.* Thus, we have a very shaky suggestion of an association of
artifacts and 6,300 year old extinct faunal remains.
Two small Rangia shell middens along the Mississippi River Valley margin
several miles south of Baton Rouge were probably occupied early during the
Archaic Stage. The accumulations are predominately shell, with a few animal
bones, but have produced no artifacts. The clam Rangia cuneata, of which the
deposits are composed, are found in brackish to saline environments along the
coast. The closest source of these clams at present is some 30 miles to the
south. However, the sites are believed to have been inhabited during an embayed
stage of the lower Alluvial Valley. Radiocarbon dating of shells from one of
the middens, the Knox site (Figure 3) yielded a date of 3,514+- 135 B.C.*
ARCHAIC AND EARLY FORMATIVE STAGES
Undoubtedly the bulk of the preceramic material studied falls into the Archaic
and Early Formative Stages. In this paper the Archaic is considered in the broad
sense, that is, a relatively simple material culture lacking pottery and reflecting
an economy based on hunting of small game and gathering. The stage appears
to extend from the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna until the introduction
of ceramics. Certainly a hunting and gathering economypersisted in much of the
area until historic times, but by this definition the introduction of ceramics in
the Tchefuncte Period will be considered as the end of the Archaic.
Considerable difficulty in classification arises in trying to place complexes
exhibiting Poverty Point traits into the stage sequence. This enigma can be
partially resolved by considering the late Poverty Point manifestations as
transitional between Late Archaic and Early Formative.
Although the investigation is far from complete, several distinctive trait
complexes and artifact assemblages are now apparent. A number of sites exhibit
trait complexes which are so similar that they have been grouped and given
the tentative status of a phase. Four distinctive preceramic phases have been
idlPntified
The Amite River Phase
The Amite River Phase represents a widespread occupation of upland stream
valleys by Archaic peoples. Sites are usually associated with gravel quarries.
Known artifacts were manufactured almost exclusively from local gravel and
ferruginous sandstone, with large projectile points, blades, adzes, choppers,
scrapers, and drills characterizing the assemblage (Figures 6 and 7; and Table
1). The midden and camp areas are strewn with chipped artifacts, scrap chert,
gravel, and other chipping debris. These areas are from several hundred feet
to one half mile in length, and extend one hundred to three hundred feet back
from the stream bank. The maximum depth of midden accumulations is unknown,
but most are shallow, near-surface deposits. Small conical earth mounds, 3 to
5 feet in height and 70 to 150 feet in diameter, occur singly or in groups of two
or three on or near the middens. A charcoal sample excavated from a mound of
this type at Avery Island yielded a date of 2488 + 260 years B.C.*
Type stations for this phase are the Baywood, Bluff Creek, and Doyle sites
*Analyzed by Shell Development Co., Houston, Texas.
*Analyzed by the Exploration Department, Humble Oil and Refining Co., Houston,
Texas.
114

(Figure 3). These locales will be discussed further in a later section of this
report.
The Pearl River Phase
A group of oyster shell middens associated withearly shorelines and estuaries
in the coastal area comprise the Pearl River Phase sites. Geomorphic evidence
indicates that this complex may represent the first coastal occupation after
sea level reached its present stand (Saucier, 1962: 16, 59-60).
Gravels and sandstone from nearby Pleistocene outcrops and stream deposits
served as the major raw material for stone artifacts, and along with amorphous
baked clay hearth fragments are found scattered throughout the middens. In
addition to chipped gravel and sandstone, shell and bone artifacts are also
numerous in the assemblage (Figure 8, Table 1). Several varieties of atlatl
weights, sandstone saws, and hones are particularly characteristic.
The middens are elongate deposits of oyster shell and earth from 75 to
550 feet in length and 30 to 150 feet in width. Depth of the accumulations ranges
from 2 to 6 feet.
The type sites of the Pearl River Phase are Cedarland Plantation, the
Graveyard, and Cedar Point sites (Figure 3). A date of 1,240+- 130 B.C. was
obtained on a charcoal sample from the upper four of a five foot thick midden
deposit at Cedarland Plantation.*
The Bayou Jasmine Phase
A number of sites uncovered by dragline operations in the deltaic plain can
be grouped into the Bayou Jasmine Phase (Gagliano and Saucier, 1963). These
are Rangia shell and earth middens which were situated on natural levee ridges
of Mississippi River distributaries. The major distinguishing feature is an
abundance of baked clay Poverty Point objects (Figure 9, Table 1). Numerous
fire pits along with concentrations of small animalbones such as birds, muskrats,
and fish, with some deer and bear are found throughout the middens.
The Bayou Jasmine and Linsley middens, both located in the basin centered
around Lake Pontchartrain are representative of the phase. Radiocarbon dates
on charcoal from the Linsley site ranged from 1590+- 120 B.C. to 2490-- 140
B.C.* The average of three samples, 1740 B.C. is about 1000 years earlier
than the average dates from the Poverty Point site and about 1200 years earlier
than the average for Jaketown (Ford and Webb, 1956: 121-2).
The Garcia Phase
In addition to the baked clay objects of the Bayou Jasmine Phase, several
other locales in the area exhibit Poverty Point traits. The most notable of these
occurs at the Garcia site on the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain (Gagliano
and Saucier, 1962). Here the evidence consists essentially of a beach deposit
of Rangia shells and midden debris left in the wake of rapid shoreline retreat.
The bulk of the midden now lies in about 4 feet of water 500 to 1000 feet from
shore. Although sherds representing several periods have been collected from
the beach, most of the pottery is of Tchefuncte age. In addition to the pottery
there is a wide variety of material which appears to represent a strong Poverty
Point component. A well developed microflint industry along with polished
stonework such as plummets, boatstones, and celts are outstanding in the
assemblage (Figures 10 and 11). It is particularly significant that a high per
centage of the raw materials utilized in this stonework is completely foreign
to the region. Quartz crystals, novaculite, metamorphic rocks, magnetite,
and hematite, none of which occur locally, are abundant.
Historic records describing an old nearby fortification mention the existence
of a laree conical earth mound in the immediate vicinity. No evidence of a

mound remains at the present time, however, and it is presumed to have been
lost to erosion.
The Rabbit Island beach deposit in central coastal Louisiana (Figure 3)
shares a number of traits with the Garcia site and is considered contemporaneous.
Like the Garcia collection, its assemblage is made conspicuous by a high
percentage of imported stone. Poverty Point-type microflints have also been
found at Rabbit Island.
CHRONOLOGY
A preliminary chronological framework has been established for the area
(Figure 12). There appear to be three broad preceramic aspects or traditions
related to physiographic areas. As suggested by the chronology chart, ceramic
periods embrace all three areas, but are rather poorly represented in the
uplands until Coles Creek and Plaquemine times.
Poverty Point traits are best developed in the physiographic divisions of
the alluvial valley and deltaic plain. Pearl River Phase sites have only been
found in coastal areas marginal to the deltaic plain. The Knox midden associated
with an embayed stage of the Mississippi River, probably represents an Early
Archaic coastal occupation.
Dated faunal material is also shown on the chart for comparison. The
undulating line in the faunal column approximates the end of Deweyville terrace
deposition and likewise seems to correspond with the extinction of the residual
Pleistocene mega fauna. This is not meant to imply a catastrophic extinction,
but a climatic change is implied.
It should be emphasized that this is a preliminary chronology, with the long
sequence for the uplands being particularly tentative. Age estimates in this
column are based on artifact typology, physiographic relationships, and faunal
associations. It is hoped that this outline may serve as a guide for future work.
SITES AND PHYSIOGRAPHY
Detailed studies of archaeological sites and their contents with respect
to physiography helps to place the sites in their proper ecological context
and sheds considerable light on the utilization of past environments by the
occupants. In dynamic areas, such as the Mississippi River deltaic plain,
cultural refuse can be used as fossils in dating geomorphic events. That is,
the initial human occupation on a natural levee ridge or beach accumulation
gives a minimum age for the formation of the feature (Kniffen, 1936: 417-22;
McIntire 1958: 19-24). In addition, shell and other faunal material deposited
in the sites provides a sample of animal life gleaned from neighboring
environments. Tools and other artifacts offer clues of economic activities.
When the total assemblage of traits is viewed in the light of the physiographic
setting a clearer picture of the prehistoric cultural landscape begins to emerge.
The Middle Amite River Area
The preceramic settlement pattern of the middle Amite River area (Figure
13) offers important clues bearing upon utilization of the upland environment.
The regional contact between Prairie and older Pleistocene deposits strikes
approximately northwest-southeast (Figures 1 and 13) and is marked by an
abrupt break in topography, soils, lithology, vegetation, drainage, and regional
slope. A tongue of fluviatile Prairie terrace extends up the Amite River reflecting
deposition in a Prairie age valley. Because of the coarse nature of adjacent
Pre-prairie Pleistocene deposits, the fluviatile Prairie terrace equivalent is
highly graveliferous.
Within what might be called the present floodplain of the river there are
actually two levels which indicate surfaces of stream, deposition. The upper
level, or high floodplain, is somewhat dissected, has a moderately well developed
119

Alluvial Valley marginal

Delta Deltaic Plain

Garcia Phase
(Poverty Point)

Bayou Jasmine Phase
(Poverty Point) t
2-

Uplands

Plaquemilne >
Coles Creek
Troyvill i
Marksville
Tchefundte

Pearl River
Phase

Knox Site i

Amite River
Phase

Jones Creek
Site

Fluted Points

?
Natches Pelvis
Find
Avery Island
Basketry Find

Faunal
Assemblages

oe

S

e mastodon
_ horse
0

-, ri

mastodon
horse
tapir
peccary

--- -. I
SRadiocarbon dates
Fig. 12. Comparative chronology chart.

120

I

Carle Secr CS! LSU

soil profile, and is covered with water only during flood. Several feet below
this high floodplain is a level of active and abandoned point bars. At first
inspection it might appear that the upper floodplain surface was formed during
floodstage and the sandy bars are low stage features. However, deposition by
the river seldom exceeds the height of the highest river bar and only clays are
deposited above the bar crests during flood. In the segment of the Amite River
under consideration the stream is still adjusting its gradient by downcutting.
Active deposition is presently restricted to sandbars and channel deposits at
and below the low floodplain level.
In their studies of river floodplains Wolman and Leopold (1957: 105) have
found that a channel has an associated floodplain whether stable and flowing on
bedrock, gradually eroding a valley, or gradually depositing a fill. Furthermore,
when the aggraded valley fill of a floodplain is incised after its deposition
the original floodplain becomes a terrace. They define an alluvial terrace as
. . .an abandoned floodplain whose surface no longer bears the normal
relationship to the stream bed (1957:105). The true terrace, by their definition
must not be overtopped by the annual flood. The upper floodplain of the Middle
Amite River area is occasionally flooded, but does not ".. .bear the normal
relationship to the stream bed." The upper surface then might be interpreted
as a poorly defined terrace, .... possibly the Deweyville.
The slope relationships between this upper floodplain level and the Prairie
terrace are such that the two surfaces merge immediately north of the area
depicted in Figure 13. Like the Prairie, the high floodplain deposits are coarse
and presently supply much of the sand and gravel needs of Baton Rouge and
adjacent communities. Because of the very slight differences in elevation
between "high" and "low" floodplain surfaces the deposits are undifferentiated
in Figures 13 and 14.
Gravel deposits (shown diagramatically in Figure 14) are formed by
concentration of the coarsest particles eroded from the older deposits. Gravel
is abundant in channels and on point bars immediately downstream of tributaries
and in places where streams cut and rework older concentrations. The gravel
consists predominately of tan, brown, red, and black chert of varying degrees
of purity with occasional quartzite pebbles and small slabs of ferruginous
sandstone.
Extensive site areas are found on the Prairie Terrace along the scarp
separating Prairie and Recent floodplain surfaces, i.e. the Baywood site.
A few middens, such as the Doyle site, have been found on abandoned point bar
ridges within the active floodplain. All sites are associatedwith gravel
accumulations, the largest complexes being located on the Prairie surface
near the junctions of tributary streams and the river valley, i.e., the Bluff
Creek site. The occupants simply selected spots where streams were actively
eroding and redepositing gravels, resulting in a readily available supply of raw
material for tools and weapons. Major locations seem to have a long history
of periodic occupation, but the bulk of the material can best be characterized
as Amite River phase. The Bluff Creek, Doyle, and Baywood sites typify the
settlement pattern of this phase.
A few refuse areas have been found with Amite River Phase projectile point
assemblages on the Prairie surface in locations considerably removed from any
gravel source. At these places the predominant artifacts are projectile points,
with a marked absence of tools. These are interpreted as hunting camps and
suggest an annual round or migration from gravel quarries to hunting areas.
One can only guess about the economic activities of these people; however,
the names of two small tributaries entering the Amite River provide fuel for
speculation. The streams are both named Pigeon Roost Creek, implying that
121

Fig. 13. Site distribution and morphological relationships in the
Middle Amite River area. Location shown in Figure 1.

this may once have been a favorite nesting area of the now extinct passenger
pigeons. One species of gregareous animal, such as the passenger pigeon, could
easily have formed the economic basis on which Archaic hunters and gatherers
relied.
A number of small conical mounds occur in the area and are apparently
associated with the occupation of the quarry camps. The mounds, from 50 to
75 feet in diameter and from 3 to 11 feet in height, occur singularly or in groups
of two or three. Frank Soday reports a hematite birdstone from one of these
mounds.*
The sites along the Amite River served as villages and workshops; with an
easily obtainable supply of gravel being of primary consideration in their
location. The occupants may have migrated seasonally, but probably returned
to the same station at least once a year.
Several years ago a chipped adz was recovered from the high floodplain
deposits on the Amite River during hydraulic dredging operations. The find was
made at the Williams Gravel Pit near Baywood, Louisiana (Figures 13 and 14).
The adz was brought to the surface by a dredge reportedly working at a depth
of 10 to 15 feet. The adz had a heavy secondary coating of iron-manganese
formed some time after the tool had been shaped by chipping. Fragments of
similar tools have been found at the Baywood site, approximately one and one-half
miles north of the gravel pit.
Examination of the stratigraphy exposed in the wall of the pit revealed three
distinctive horizons. As illustrated in Figure 15, the upper two feet of the sequence
consisted of sandy clay with a well developed soil profile. Below this was three
feet of cross-bedded sands and gravels. Iron-manganese coated gravel inclusions
in this horizon were apparently reworked from a bed of coated gravel below.
The following sequence of events can be reconstructed from the exposure:
1. Deposition of the lower sand and gravel horizon (point bar or channel
deposits).
2. Formation of asecondaryiron-manganese coatingon the sand and gravel.
3. Erosion, followed by deposition of the cross-bedded sand and gravel
unit (point bar deposits). Some eroded material was redeposited, thus,
the manganese coated inclusions.
4. The sandy-clay horizon was deposited primarily by overbank flow and a
soil zone was developed.
5. A change in base level and/or gradient of the stream occurred,
differentiating the high and low floodplain levels.
The iron-manganese coating on the adz and the stratigraphy exposed in the
gravel pit indicate that the adz was manufactured during or prior to deposition
of the lower sand and gravel horizon, and before development of the manganese
coating on the gravel in this horizon. In addition to the adz, a large sandstone
mortar has also been found in the pit. The stone does not show any traces of
iron-manganese and is believed to have come from a somewhat higher position
in the deposits. Both tools were undoubtedly lost when the point bar was active,
or shortly thereafter.
There is still considerable question regarding the age of the upper floodplain
deposits. They might represent a case of simple stream migration, where the
stream is cutting into an old bend with slightly higher surface relief, but on the
other hand the deposits may indeed be correlative with the Deweyville interval.
These finds have posed questions which will not be resolved without additional
detailed work.

The Pearl River Mouth Area
The area in the vicinity of the mouth of Pearl River (Figure 16) is considered
to be a second key area. It offers a wide variety of ecological conditions,
including river bottom swamplands, pine hills, coastal beaches, and brackish
and salt marshes, all of which converge in this vicinity. Each of these
environments supports a characteristic fauna and flora and each offers a unique
situation for hunting and gathering. The river itself is a natural avenue of travel
giving access to upland products and raw materials. In view of these many
attractions it is not surprising that this area reveals a long occupational history.
As illustrated by the number of sites shown on the map, the ceramic history
is well known. Ceramic materials ranging in age from Plaquemine to Tchefuncte
are represented and there are good correlations between human occupations
and geomorphic development. For example, the Tchefuncte period is the earliest
occupation found on the beach ridge complex at the mouth of the river. This
suggests development prior to, or during, Tchefuncte times. The three sites
shown near the upper margin of the map represent the northernmost Rangia
shell middens on Pearl River and probably approximate the maximum extent
of brackish water encroachment during their occupation.
In contrast to the many Rangia shell middens, the Cederland Plantation and
Graveyard sites are composed almost entirely of oyster shells (Crassostrea
virginica). During the Pearl River Phase, when both were inhabited, the mouth
of the Pearl was probably more estuarine and local salinities somewhat higher,
permitting oyster growth. In the middens of the Tchefuncte and subsequent
periods only brackish water Rangia shells are found indicating a slight change
in environment.
Other physical changes in the area have resulted from recent fault movement.
The Prairie terrace, marking the western margin of the stream valley, has been
downfaulted and the Graveyard midden, once on the valley margin, is now partially
below sea level.
The Garcia beach deposit, as mentioned previously, contains Poverty Point
elements and is believed to be related to an early Mississippi River Delta
development. The Poverty Point traits recognized in the assemblage show
strong up-valley affiliations and probably represent a cultural intrusion into the
area.
The McKeen site, a camp located on a knoll overlooking the valley scarp,
is unlike any other in the vicinity of the river mouth. The assemblage is typically
Early Archaic, composed exclusively of chipped artifacts and includes a Kirk
point. This Early Archaic occupation is believed to have been contemporaneous
with the development of a series of large Deweyville scars impinging on the
valley wall. Immediately north of the areashownon the map these scars emerge
from beneath a wedge of alluvium to form part of the Deweyville Terrace
complex.
By studying the settlement pattern and refuse of habitation sites in the Pearl
River mouth area it is possible to reconstruct a significant part of the Recent
geological history and ecological succession. The following sequence of events
is suggested:

1. Early Archaic Occupation Deweyville streams were active and
(McKeen site) ecological conditions somewhat different.
The McKeen site was a number of miles
upstream from the then existing coast. Sea
level was rising, but still below its present
stand.

128

2. Pearl River Phase The shoreline was established along the
Occupation innermost of the accretion beach ridges and
the river valley was embayed and drowned
as a result of rising sea level. Sea level
reached its present stand.
3. Poverty Point Occupation Mississippi River distributaries approached
the area from the west modifying environ-
ments from Gulf sound to marginal deltaic.
4. Tchefuncte PeriodOccu- The lower estuary of the Pearl was essentially
pation filled and accretion beaches near the mouth
of the river were fully developed.
5. Post-Tchefuncte Occu- Development of coastal marshes continued.
pation
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
It is apparent that Lithic Stage peoples were present in the survey area.
Evidence of these early occupations is generally sparse. The evidence consists,
typically, of isolated finds of artifacts buried in terrace deposits, such as the
Natchez Pelvis Find and occasional surface finds of fluted points. The Avery
Island Salt site, with its basketry andbipolar flaking industry, is indeed promising
and may prove to be an important Lithic locale.
Occurrences of excellent marker points and diagnostic artifact assemblages
provide evidence of a widespread occupation during the Lithic-Early Archaic
interval. Both artifact finds within terrace gravels and locations of sites support
the hypothesis that these peoples lived during the period of Deweyville terrace
deposition. Although there is a thin veneer of Lithic-Early Archaic material
throughout the uplands and Prairie terrace areas, rich midden or camp areas
remain to be discovered.
Evidence from the later Archaic and Early FormativeStages is more plentiful
and indicates a pattern of efficient environmental utilization by specialized
hunting and gathering groups. The artifact assemblages and inferred traits of
the four recognizable Archaic and Early Formative Stages (Table 1) show a
marked specialization, presumably resulting from adaptation to various ecological
situations which existed in the survey area, as well as time and cultural
differences. The quantity of Archaic artifacts from the Prairie terrace and
uplands suggests a considerable population during this period.
The early dates on earth mound building and Poverty Point objects are worthy
of special note. Many of the other traits which define the elaborate Poverty
Point culture can also be found in the Archaic phases. In the same regard
antecedents of the south Louisiana Tchefuncte culture (Ford and Quimby, 1945)
are quite apparent in the Archaic and Early Formative phases. In fact, virtually
all of the traits that define the Tchefuncte culture, with the exception of the
Tchefuncte pottery complex, were well established in these earlier periods.
The Amite River Phase is a local version of an Archaic culture which
flourished throughout the woodlands of much of the Southeast. This pattern was
certainly prevalent in large areas of East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Alabama.
On the basis of the well developed microflint industry and the general artifact
assemblage, the Garcia Phase is considered to be more contemporaneous with
the Poverty Point (Ford and Webb, 1956) and Jaketown (Ford, Phillips, and Haag,
1955) sites of North Louisiana and Central Mississippi than the Bayou Jasmine
Phase. A very strong similarity also exists between the Garcia Phase and the
Elliots Point complex reported by Lazrus (1958) and Fairbanks (1959) from the
Florida Gulf Coast.
129

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This survey has been a byproduct of studies of Recent and Pleistocene geology
and geomorphology conducted in Coastal Louisiana and Mississippi by the
Coastal Studies Institute of Louisiana State University under the auspices of
the Geography Branch, Office of Naval Research (Contract N onr 1575 (03) Task
Order 388 002.)
The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to all his friends
and associates who have contributed field and laboratory assistance as well as
valuable criticism. In particular, thanks are extended to Roger T. Saucier of
the U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi
and Richard Warren, presently serving in the U. S. Navy. Their efforts have
contributed markedly to the project. To Dr. James P. Morgan, Managing Director
of Coastal Studies Institute, the writer is indebted for editorial assistance.
Special thanks are also extended to Mr. Philip B. Larimore for his advice and
supervision in planning and preparing the illustrations and to Mr. Paul Wiger
for his care and patience in drafting the material.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, Robert E.
1958 Guide to the Identification of Certain American Indian Projectile
Points. Oklahoma Anthr. Soc., Special Bull. No. 1, Oklahoma City.

1960 Guide to the Identification of Certain American Indian Projectile
Points. Oklahoma Anthr. Soc., Special Bull. No. 2, Oklahoma City.

Brown, Clair A.
1938 The Flora of Pleistocene Deposits in the Western Florida Parishes,
West Feleciana Parish, and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
In Contributions to the Pleistocene History of the Florida Parishes
of Louisiana, Dept. of Cons., Louisiana Geol. Surv., Geol. Bull. No.
12, pp. 59-94 New Orleans.

Kniffen, Fred B.
1936 A Preliminary Report on the Mounds and Middens of Plaquemine
and St. Bernard Parishes. In Lower Mississippi River Delta. Reports
on the Geology of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, Dept. of
Cons., Louisiana Geol. Surv., Geol. Bull. 8, pp. 407-22, New Orleans.

The report discusses a widespread type of heavy flint tool called
"Horse's hoof plane" found on anumberof Florida sites and compares
them with highly similar tools on sites in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico.
The tools are considered to have functioned as planes or rasps,
perhaps in wood or hide working.

In January 1962, Mrs. Warren and I had an opportunity to accompany a group
of students from the Florida Presbyterian College on a sojourn to Mexico.
While there, we visited the three well known archeological sites of the Oaxaca
Valley, Mitla, Yagul, and Monte Alban. We were gratified to find in the fields
and environs around the first two of these ancient structures a large number of
core-planes, many having the same general shape and size. They were referred
to in Spanish by the Mexican laborers doing the reconstruction of the ruins
at Yagul as "raspes". Several months later, when we discussed these tools
with Ripley P. Bullen ofthe FloridaState Museum, he afforded a more descriptive
term "horse's hoof planes", and, infact, these planes are, in general appearance,
quite similar to a horse hoof. We presented a number of planes to the custodian
of the Museo Frisell in Mitla where they are now on display.
We thought for three reasons that the planes had been used during the Mixtec
and Zapotec periods (ca. 800 BC-1521 AD) in the construction of the edifices.
In the first place, their distribution pattern was concentrated in the immediate
proximity of the ruins, and they became scarcer as one wandered away from the
buildings. However, one might claim they were far older than the buildings and
merely gave witness to a much earlier occupancy of the same site. This theory
did not seem quite satisfying, for at Monte Alban, on the plaza, in a pile of
rubble we found another of the planes in a location which could only have meant
a direct time and place relation with the buildings themselves. This isolated
tool was a second piece of presumptive evidence that the tools were not older
than the buildings. A third factor was that the very great number of these
planes did not seem consistent with the sparse population of a pre-agricultural
society. In Mitla they were so common they were used as cobble stones on
the street.
In April, 1962, while attending a medical meeting in Philadelphia, I had a chance
to drop in next door at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and there
saw an almost identical "horse's hoof" which was said to come from a 20,000
year old site in or near San Diego, California. A letter to John Witthoft, State
Anthropologist at the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, Harrisburg,
brought an informative reply. "Core-planes of this style", he wrote, "are
pretty simple and basic tools, and such forms occur in many different times
and places in world archeology".
During the summer of 1962, in a cleared acreage tract in Pasco County
immediately to the south of and adjacent to the "Flora-Mar" real estate
development on the west shoulder of U. S. Highway 19 another similar stone
plane was uncovered, this one composed ofpure white silicified coral undoubtedly
mined from the vast silex beds of near-by Flora-Mar and Bailey's Bluff. These
two real estate developments seem to occupy a central and southerly position

Florida Anthropologist, Vol XVI, No 4, Dec. 196313 3

in what must have been one of the great aboriginal stone workshops of this part
of Florida. (Another equally impressive site is located in Hillsborough County
around Lake Thonotosassa.*) The ten-acre U.S. 19 site had been scraped and
the top soil removed to make the 'shoulders" for the adjacent highway. Scattered
over the tract at random were numerous spalls and sherds, the latter suggestive
of the Safety Harbor and Weeden Island periods.
At about this time a review of a collection made in 1961 from a pumped up
island just south of the Corey Causeway connecting the cities of St. Petersburg
and St. Petersburg Beach disclosed still another "horse's hoof". This one was
also of attractive white silicified coral and almost identical with the Mitla
planes. This site was of interest because of a Deptford Linear Check Stamped
sherd and a couple of side-notched, bevel-edged, basally-ground Bolen type
points.
In September, 1962, while inspecting the oyster shell piles in Benton's Shell
Yard on U. S. 19 in Largo, one more "horse's hoof" was found. It was quite
similar to the others but in general not as finely made, although the bit was very
nicely flaked. In the same depositof shellwas a miniature "hoof", much smaller
in size, but of the same configuration. A flint knife, astragalus of a Pleistocene
horse (Equus), and a fragment of longbone of large size, quite petrified, probably
mammoth, completed the finds from this oyster shell yard. This shell is dredged
out of Tampa Bay from two main sites, one off the mouth of the Little Manatee
River, and the other off Gadsden Point. While this oyster shell may be from a
natural bed it is not implausible that the deposit may represent a submerged
pre-ceramic shell midden, in which case this particular "horse's hoof" may
have considerable antiquity.
The stone core-planes described here all have about the same conformation.
They are about fist size and seem to fit the hand well but not comfortably,
suggesting they may have been fitted to some kind of handle posteriorly. In
shape, they are piano-convex, with a high crown and ridged top, and, as seen
from the top, there is a tendency to left to right asymmetry, so that the ridge
or crest is a little to one side or the other of the center line. The front or
working edge is nicely flaked into a convexly-curved '"bit", and the frontal
face just above the bit, has superficial niches gouged into it, possibly representing
where the working edgeor "bit" was sharpened. The bottom surface of the plane
is not truly flat, but concave, and the depth of the concavity runs from front to
back. The back surface is unfinished in appearance and does indeed resemble
the back of a hoof, sloping upward slightly from bottom to top.
The function of these tools, judging from their plane bottom surface, is that
of planes, or rasps, or scrapers of some sort, although just what they may
have been used for is doubtful. One would think that if they had been used for
wood working, one would see a sheen or patina on the bit, but this is not the
case. They may have been used on a material softer than wood, and a
contemporary theory is that in some parts of the United States they were used
to remove the hides from large animals, bison for example, or to scrape the
fat off the inside of such hides. It is probable that they would find usefulness in
many functions where a large, heavy scraper would be needed.
The objects described in this paper were allsurface finds, so that any attempt
at dating them is not reliable. Their associated artifacts suggest a wide time
span. It would be most desirable to know whether in Florida "horse's hooves"
are found in kitchen middens of various periods. To my knowledge, this has
not been shown.

* The name means "Place of Flints" in Muskogean.

134

Fig. 1 Mitla

Fig. 3 Flora-Mar
(Front view)

Fig. 2 Flora-Mar
(Side view)

Fig. 5 Benton's
Shell Yard

Fig. 4 Benton's
Shell Yard

The appended photographs are presented to demonstrate the appearance and
general over all similarity of the tools. Figure 1 is a side view of a Mitla plane
with curved bit to the left. Figure 2 shows the white coral Flora-Mar plane,
bit to the right. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same plane. Fig. 4 shows the shell
yard plane and miniature and Fig. 5 shows the nicely flaked bit of the larger
plane from a front view. Fig. 6 shows the Mitla plane again and the white coral
plane from Boca Ciega near the Corey Causeway, and indicates their striking
similarity to each other.

St. Petersburg, Florida

Fig. 6 Coral Plane from Corey Causeway
on left; Mitla plane on right

136

BOOK NOTES: PAPERBACKS

The ',paperback revolution" that has occurred within the American publishing
industry during the last two decades has resulted in the publication of numerous
original works and the reissue of standard sources that are highly useful in
various academic disciplines. However, it has been only in the last few years
that anthropology has begun to reap significant benefits from this trend in
publishing. The paperback format lends itself especially well to the inexpensive
publication of monograph-length ethnographic handbooks, to the series publication
of ethnographies written and designed primarily for teaching purposes, and to
the presentation of topical works dealing with cultural or geographical areas.
Since 1960 outstanding contributions by various publishing houses have been
made in all three of the above categories and both the publishers and anthropology
have profited thereby. Although thorough survey of the paperback anthropological
literature in print is not intended here, it would seem propitious to call attention
to the readers of the FLORIDA ANTHROPOLOGIST some noteworthy examples
of these recent publications.
The Natural History Press, a division of Doubleday and Company, with its
editorial offices at the American Museum of Natural History, reissued this Fall
in inexpensive paperback versions two standard sources that are not only useful
but necessary to students of the American Indian. They are Philip Drucker's
Indians of the Northwest Coast and Robert Lowie's Indians of the Plains. Both
books, first published in 1955 and 1954, respectively, are typographically excellent
and are amply illustrated with numerous drawings and serve to enhance and
illuminate the text. Both books are essentially descriptive in nature and deal
seriatim with such traditional categories as material culture, social organization,
religion, and art. Nevertheless, neither work represents what has been called
the "vacuum cleaner" approach to ethnography, and, although they treat of
large culture areas, both authors are able to convey the range and variation of
cultural patterns and practices within these areas.
Following their initial publication in the mid-fifties, reviewers were generally
favorable in their comments, though expectably critical in certain respects. For
example, Drucker was said to have been to subjective and arbitrary in his
treatment of Northwest Coast art, while Lowie was cited for dealing in too great
detail with material culture. Nevertheless, no better surveys of these culture
areas have come along nor are any likely to; therefore, the reissue of these
volumes is welcome.
In 1960 the publishers, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., inaugurated a new
series called "Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology," under the general
editorship of George and Louise Spindler, of Stanford University. The following
seven titles have been issued to date: Being a Palauan, H. G. Barnett; Gopalpur:
a South Indian Village, Alan R. Beals; Bunyoro: an African Kingdom, John
Beattie; Vasilika: a Village in Modern Greece, Ernestine Friedl; The Tiwi of
North Australia, C. W. M. Hart and Arnold R. Pilling; The Cheyennes: Indians
of the Great Plains, E. Adamson Hoebel; Tepoztlan: Village in Mexico, Oscar
Lewis. The volumes in this series average about 100 pages each and all have the
same general format.
Although written and designed primarily as teaching aids for an introductory
course in cultural anthropology, i.e., as ethnographic supplements to a textbook,

Florida Anthropologist, Vol XVI, No 4, Dec. 19631 3 7

they are by no means "watered down" or simplistic treatments; rather, each
volume incorporates a selective arrangement of the significant features of the
society under discussion, ordered and analyzed in such a way as to convey a
cohhrent impression of that society as a functioning unit. The professional
specialist would find these essays lacking in documentation and detail, but they
are not addressed to such an audience. These works may be perused with pleasure
and profit, however, by the student and interested layman, and they constitute
needed additions to the teacher's tool kit.
Finally, in the category of topical works dealing with cultural or geographical
areas, two recent paperbacks are of especial interest in that they present
anthropological analysis and interpretation of change and conflict in contemporary
society. Although both books are concerned with social revolution, they exhibit
a striking objective-subjective polarity of approach.
Social Change in Latin America Today, a Vintage Book (division of Random
House), contains the following chapters: "Some Signposts for Policy" John
P. Gillin; "Changing Community Attitudes and Values in Peru: a Case Study
in Guided Change," Allan R. Holmberg; "Bolivia: U. S. Assistance in a
Revolutionary Setting," Richard W. Patch; "The Brazilian Revolution: Social
Changes since 1930," Charles Wagley; "Social Change in Guatemala and U. S.
Policy," Richard N. Adams; "Mexico since Cardenas," Oscar Lewis; and an
introduction by Lyman Bryson.
This book should provide valuable insights and information for policy makers
in government, but it is equally important to the student of contemporary Latin
America. It is singularly distinguished by the expertise of the contributors,
who each write with admirable objectivity based upon sound research.
Though no less significant and interesting to those anthropologists and laymen
concerned with social revolution, Colin Turnbull's The Lonely African is in large
measure a work subjectively conceived and polemically executed. Turnbull
writes with as much style and verve as any contemporary anthropologist, as
those familiar with his vivid treatment of the Congo Pygmies in the Forest
People will appreciate. In this more recent work, through the presentation of
biographical case histories, he is able to evoke great sympathy for the plight
of the lonely African and considerable anger at the misguided if not actually
malevolent machnnations of missionaries, European landholders, and colonial
administrators. Perhaps the case for the African and against the European cannot
be overstated; nevertheless, Turnbull's brief disclaimer that, "The total picture
mayseem one-sided, and in a sense it is," and that, "There are quite
enough apologists for the colonial cause" (p. 180), assures us that we have
been deprived of important dimensions in aportraitof the African made marginal
in his own land through detribalization and incomplete Europeanization. As one
reviewer has said, "Mr. Turnbull has carefully scraped off the Africans the
mud slung at them by white supremacists and has slung it back at the whites"
(Ethel Albert in The American Anthropologist 65:715).
All of the above to the contrary notwithstanding, this is a book anthropologists
will read and appreciate and a treatise for the layman on the sadness and horror
that result from segregation, discrimination, and misguided missionizing.
The books commented upon here range in price from $0.95 to $1.95. In this
day of rising production costs in all aspects of manufacture, it is a compliment
to the paperback publishing industry that such quality, interest, and talent can
be had so inexpensively.
Theron A. Nunez
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
138

Annual Index

Arnade, Charles W.
A Discussion of Florida Anthropology From A Historian's Point of
View. 16:2; 43-47.